


Past Remorse

by Eorendel



Series: Without U [2]
Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternative Universe - Canon Divergence, Definitely drama, Fiction, Gen, Human Experimentation, Inspiration from different mecha animes, M/M, Mecha, Military Science, Mixed Media, People are nice, Probably romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, The ancient law of frenemies, past-relationships, people are stupid, subtlety is my middle name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 16:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12112755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eorendel/pseuds/Eorendel
Summary: After finding out where they were transported, Inaho and Yuki, along with a different Slaine, set a journey to find civilization and a way to communicate with their country and superiors. A little bit of truth is unveiled after talking to Slaine, but what were answers just ended up creating more questions. A ominous broadcast stirs up the Intergalactic Alliance while the past Inaho thought buried hasn't faded into obscurity in the least.





	Past Remorse

It wasn’t an illusion. They were in the southern hemisphere. By his calculations, Yuki, Slaine and Inaho, where somewhere in South America’s Amazon Forest. The reason behind how it happened clearly pointed to some phenomenon involving the kats from before, but the reason it happened was still unclear. Regardless, their priority was to remain safe, look for some way to communicate with civilization, and then expose the wrongdoings of the secret organization where the kats were created. And perhaps more important to Inaho, discover the truth behind Slaine’s sudden revival.

Inaho glanced at Slaine, peacefully sleeping on a makeshift bed under the cover of a tent made with leaves. It was raining and the temperature was dropping – it didn’t seem to bother Slaine all that much. For the past five days, after Yuki had, in no particular order: calmed down at seeing the person who almost killed her little brother, swallowed down any deadly complaints she might have had towards him, and due to the circumstances, made use of her survival skills – which were absurdly better than Inaho’s – and protected them from perils of the jungle.

Yuki, once again, amazed Inaho by how she could do almost anything; even with the little resources they had. She had gotten them food – fished and hunted –, made a shelter – almost all on her own, Inaho was merely relegated to follow instructions – and overall made them listen to her explanation on how to survive in extreme circumstances. Lectures which were strangely fascinating to Slaine, judging by the way he looked at her when she explained in painful detail how bad it’d be to die by intoxication.

Right now, Yuki was out hunting their meal for the day, she said she had seen footprints belonging to a boar. She reiterated she didn’t need help from Inaho and that he should just stay put and hold down their fort. Reluctantly, Inaho agreed. They had to move soon anyway, they couldn’t keep staying in the same place and preparations were in order. The car was useless for them since there were no roads, so things that were unnecessary to carry were left behind. Inaho refused to leave his tablet though. Finishing his preparation, Inaho was free to ponder the puzzle that was the person quietly sleeping the day away.

One thing was clear in Inaho’s mind, Slaine wasn’t faking his amnesia. He got to know him, to study him, to fight him, he believed he had a good grasp of Slaine’s personality enough to say that he wouldn’t bother using underhanded tactics to manipulate them. The Slaine he once knew had a set of values and behavior worth praising. All what Slaine had been for the past days was, in a nutshell, someone who was curious about everything, not shy in the least to ask what he wanted, and oddly carefree to the extent of being vulnerable at any given time. Like now, sleeping a few feet away from the person who shot him in the heart – who saw him bleed out, and die with a bloody smile on his face.

Inaho couldn’t understand. He reached out and shook Slaine awake rather roughly. He found out during their time together that this accomplished the task of waking him up – that, or touching his face like he did the first time – the latter option was overruled immediately by his rationale.

Slaine scrunched his brow slightly, like always, and opened his eyes slowly – his eyes always roamed about until they settled on Inaho. In the rare occasions were Yuki was the one to wake him up, Slaine always ended up setting his gaze on Inaho.

“I need to talk to you.” Inaho sat in front of him.

Sluggishly, Slaine asked while sitting up, “Is lunch ready?”

Inaho reigned in his need to sigh, “It won’t be ready for a while. Right now I want to discuss something important with you.”

After a yawn, Slaine replied. “Okay.”

“You are Slaine Troyard.” Inaho stated. “There’s no other explanation for your uncanny likeness, appearance-wise. There’s no other answer than you are, in the flesh, Slaine Saazbaum Troyard, ex-count and leader of the main Martian force that declared war against Earth five years ago.”

Slaine sleepily rubbed his eye like a kid, he paused gathering his thoughts, and settled to say, “I’m not really Slaine.”

Inaho carefully chose his next words, “You said before you weren’t him. You said you didn’t know. What do you mean by ‘not really’ now?” Inaho became alarmed, was he wrong in his assessment of the Slaine he once knew?

“I am whatever Slaine thinks I am.” Slaine yawned again and faced properly at Inaho. His deep aquamarine eyes didn’t seem to lie.

But it could be a trap. Inaho was talking with the master mind that almost won the intergalactic war.

“You said before you didn’t know who Slaine was, neither who I was.” Inaho restated immediately. “Has that changed too?”

Slaine furrowed his brow, looking mildly displeased. “I didn’t know who he was. But I finally heard him while I slept. And you, I just know you were important for him.”

Inaho was silent at the response. At first, he questioned why he was choosing the term "important" to represent their relationship. Secondly, everything Slaine said sounded like nonsense, but he couldn’t go without getting information, maybe at some point he could get a chance to unmask the truth behind those words. But before Inaho could ask about what he meant by ‘Slaine’ sleeping, Slaine spoke.

“He’s very weak at the moment.” He said, tone worried. “At least he’s safe where he is now.”

Inaho decided to play along. “Where is he then?”

“There.” Slaine pointed up to the sky. “But he’ll come back as soon as he can to claim what is his.”

“What exactly is that?” Inaho took his time to ask – refraining from pointing out that it was impossible to be living in the sky, unless he meant a space colony, which seemed highly unlikely.

This time, Slaine was the one to take his time to answer. His gaze grew heavy. “What your kin made him become.” He said, for the first time, in a sober tone. “The Heir of Agnarr.”

This confused Inaho, kin? Agnarr? Did he mean the people at the facility? “I don’t understand. Who is Agnarr?”

Slaine gave him a long look, unwavering, almost cold –  It was the first time Inaho felt any kind of intent directed at him from this Slaine. It made a chill run down his spine. He was confused as to why that dreaded familiar feeling felt comforting.

“I am not mistaken,” Slaine suddenly said. “You will be an ally for Slaine in the future. Therefore, I will give you the information I’m allowed to give. Choose wisely what you do with this information, you might bear even greater regrets if you make the wrong choice.” Slaine’s voice seemed to change, it sounded like before, like the time when he was a Count and a vicious adversary.

“Freyja and Mara. They also got new Heirs. You saw them, you saw how powerful they are. They are faithful to their vessels’ wishes. If the vessels chose to destroy this world, they will make sure the task is completed. There’s only one thing you can do to prevent it.”

Slaine’s voice seemed to grow quieter the longer he kept on talking, his eyelids were drooping, he seemed to be fighting a sudden exhaustion.

“Try to understand, Inaho... Not all foolish actions are bad... and not all rightful ideas have benevolence...”

Suddenly, like a puppet cut off its strings, Slaine fell forward. Inaho caught him before he landed on the ground, in time to hear a whisper, “...save him...”

Slaine fell asleep and didn’t wake up no matter how hard they tried to wake him.

Yuki and Inaho decided to move on the second day despite Slaine’s state. They couldn’t afford to waste more time, and even though the things Slaine said seemed far-fetched, they couldn’t outright deny them. What had happened in that UFE facility? 

They followed the river’s path. Inaho was in charge of carrying Slaine while they walked.

It was a peculiar feeling, the weight of Slaine on his back, the constant reminder he was the sole guardian of his safety, and the words that kept on repeating inside his head.

Save him.

Save him.

Save him.

Save him – you couldn’t last time.

Save him – it’s your fault.

Save him – he did it for you.

Save him – just like he saved you that time.

* * *

 

Two weeks passed before they could find a settlement, and it took another week to find a way to the capital. Slaine slept throughout the entire ordeal. As soon as they could find a doctor to check him. The doctor, completely baffled, told them that there was nothing wrong with him. Yuki seemed unsettled, to a point where she suggested maybe he was under a spell, like Snow White. A heavy silence reigned after that comment and an unspoken agreement was made, stating: the topic would never be breached again.

The day they finally got to a secure place – one of the old safe houses scattered throughout the globe made by the efforts of the still standing countries before the second war – what Inaho feared became true.

A broadcast, transmitted to the entire globe through any available device, presented the long lost Princess Lemrina standing on two legs before a podium of reporters and officials. She stood tall, gaze cold. Her icy blue eyes pierced through the screen. The location of the broadcast was on the moon, a neutral territory decided upon by both sides after war.

 

> _ This day, I came here with my title of Princess, the second seat governor to the once called Empire of Vers. That title does not hold any relevant weight in the current dynamics of these times but it holds enough power to summon all of you here. Many speculations were made as to why I gathered all of you here, Martians and Terrans alike. The answer is rather simple. I call for justice. Not for the wars long forgotten, neither for the forsaken line my bloodline has. I speak, this time, for myself. I am no longer a Princess. I am no longer bound to neither duty nor honor. This was stripped away from me by all of you. _
> 
> _ Listen carefully, people of earth and people of mars, I want justice. Justice against whom you ask? I want those who killed me brought before me. I would rather have as little bloodshed as possible since not all of you were guilty of my torture and demise.  _
> 
> _ I ask you again to head my call. Those who know what I’m talking about will surely try to flee, but as I see it, it is in the best interest of both races to do as I ask. In a week, in Tanegashima island, I want the people there. _

 

There was an uproar in the conference room, people standing up, reporters asking questions, officials making calls. Lemrina didn’t move or attempt to say anything else, she merely raised her hand and the room went quiet. She pointed to something with her index finger and behind her a screen appeared showing an image. It was a shot of the side of the moon outside of the conference room. She brought her finger towards the camera that was taking a frontal shot of her and pointed, she smiled coldly and said: bang.

The shot from the conference room was replaced by the shot outside in time to see a blast of white light erupt from within the place, it engulfed everything in deadly silence. Slowly, the light faded, giving away the sight of a chunk of the moon missing. Before anyone could react, a blue kat flew into view pointing a finger to the satellite camera and similar to Lemrina’s gesture, pointed a finger to the camera ending the transmission in an instant.

The safe house was isolated from population; the time of the day was different so the moon was on the other side of the world. Yuki and Inaho couldn’t say anything, they remained frozen in place in front of the screen.

It was a declaration of war. Even though she tried to mask it, it undoubtedly stated that if her demands weren’t met, consequences would befall everyone, without distinction she would stop anyone who got in her way. The UFE would consider this a threat, the Martians might too, even Asseylum would get dragged into this. This was the exact scenario Inaho feared. No, it was ten times worse.

“What are you going to do about it, Kaizuka?”

Inaho swirled around to the sound of the voice.  

Slaine stood leaning against the doorway, not looking at Inaho but at the static screen that was being replaced by another news segment.

“Lemrina is holding a grudge. The best anyone can do is do what she wants without complaint. And you know Rayet better than me, but I’m sure you know she doesn’t have the patience to wait for a week. She might go ahead and simply wipe out the northern hemisphere if she wishes to.”

Inaho’s throat was dry, “Slaine?”

“Yes.” He said simply, “It’s been a while.” He turned his eyes to Inaho.

This was Slaine Troyard. Inaho couldn’t say how, but he knew it was him.

“I thank you for taking care of me while I was out of sorts.” Slaine said politely, eyes strained on Inaho, pinning him in place with ease. “I am in your debt. How do you wish for me to repay you?”

Inaho couldn’t find his voice, thoughts were flying and colliding inside his head, questions that needed answers couldn’t be voiced and a strange feeling began to spread in his chest.

Slaine gazed at him for a second longer before languidly moving away from the door frame.

“I will let you think for a while. Despite being awake I feel compelled to rest for a little longer. You can answer me when I wake next time.”

Slaine stepped away and Inaho took a step forward.

“Wait –” He choked out, “Do you know who I am?”

Slaine stopped and turned around, “Of course I do. I don’t think I could forget the person who put a bullet inside my heart.” He smiled, it was a tired smile. “Don’t worry. Soon I’ll forget about it. And so will you.”

“No.” Inaho said, feeling a cold spreading in his chest. “I don’t want to forget.”

“Really?” Slaine asked, he seemed almost amused. “I guess you are the type of person who can’t let go of the past. Aren’t you tired?”

Scared?

“No.”

“You are a fool.”

“You always told me that.”

“Yes, I guess I did.” Slaine turned away. “Do you think I need to keep doing it?”

He left without hearing the answer.

But Inaho didn’t have an answer to give.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, thanks to [Stirling Phoenix](http://archiveofourown.org/users/stirlingphoenix/works) for her help!


End file.
